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Monday 24 December 2012

Merry Christmas


Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful day. 
I will be thinking about those less fortunate that have been affected by flooding, losing a loved one or generally struggling this Christmas. My mum has decided to spend her Christmas with the Salvation Army handing out much needed Christmas dinners to vulnerable people when she could have easily spent it with one of her children, for giving up a day that means so much to many to spread a little Christmas cheer amongst those that will appreciate that one day for its true meaning, I am immensely proud of my mum.

So as you go about your day making amazing memories with your loved ones spare a thought for others around the world, a smile from a stranger could make their day a much happier one.


Merry Christmas 
May all your dreams come true x

Sunday 23 December 2012

Child's Angel costume review

I was asked to pick an item from Jokers Masquerade fancy dress to keep & review. After browsing their website I discovered many great fancy dress costumes, I had narrowed it down to a few children angel costumes that I liked which was handy as my daughter had just been chosen to play an angel in her school nativity play.

I did think I would struggle to find Christmas costumes or fancy dress costumes at such a late stage into the festive period but to my surprise they had a good range which most were in stock for delivery. They are all reasonably priced & there is a good range for all budgets. 
I settled on the Angel Princess fancy dress costume because this would be best suited for her school nativity play. Once ordered it arrive quickly & was well packed. My daughter tried it on & it fitted her perfectly, I was impressed with the quality of the material as I was worried it would be a see through material but thankfully I didn't need to put tights on underneath her angel dress.
The dress comes with a halo which is placed upon a headband, the dress has gold detailing which includes a gold star placed on the waist band.
My daughter looked like an angel on the stage in her costume & I would buy from Jokers Masquerade fancy dress again in the future.

Saturday 22 December 2012

Barefoot Books review



 Here in my household some of us a real book worms, my youngest son loves to be read to & is room is slowly starting to look like a library. When Barefoot Books sent me three books to review the girls & little T all wanted to look at the books.

This book book was by far my favourite & M made a claim on this book straight away. I grew up in a place know as poets corner, our streets & road were all named after famous poets such as Tennyson, Wordsworth & Byron just to name a few. I looked at the contents & went straight to page 122, why? well the poem called The Poet's song is written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and having lived on Tennyson Road for the most part of my life, it had to be the first poem I read in this book. The hardback copy can be bought from Barefoot books for just £14.99 & is suitable for all ages, throughout the book it has illustration the matches the poem perfectly. The Barefoot book of Classic poems features 72 poems & along side each poem is the poets name & poem title, it really is a great book for anyone who enjoys poetry. 

The Adventures of Achilles
I am no huge fan of Greek Mythology but my husband and eldest daughter are so this book appealed to them much more than me. The adventures of Achilles tells the tales of Achilles who was a Greek hero in the Trojan war. The only knowledge I had about Achilles before reading the book is the Achilles heel, but know I know much more. The book is captivating & comes with illustration on each page, there are 96 pages spread across 12 chapters & the epilogue. The copy I received is hardback & also comes with 2 full length story CDs for just £15.99 which I think is worth it. It is suitable for ages 8+ which is right, I wouldn't read it to a younger child.

The Snow Queen


The Snow Queen is a paperback copy that can be bought for £6.99 from Barefoot books, it retells the classical story by Hans Christian Andersen. It is suitable for ages 8+ so only my girls could enjoys this book, they both really enjoyed reading the story & said they would both read the story again. It tells the tale of 1 girl on the quest to save her best friend from the evil Snow Queen's frozen ice palace, overcoming obstacles whilst she battle to save her friend does evil or a warm heart win? You will have to read the book to find out because I shall not spoil the story for you. 

I would recommend all 3 books they captivated myself & my children & I will be buying more books from the Barefoot range.
If you enjoyed our review click on the link below to read more from other bloggers.
Chez Maximka also reviewed The Adventure of Achillies


I received the 3 books for the purpose of the review only, all wording, images & opinions are of my own. 

Thursday 20 December 2012

I am an auntie.....






....again
Last week on the 12/12/12 my gorgeous nephew Callum was born 2 days early, my sister in law had said it would be great if he was to be born on that day as he would have a super cool birth date, I don't think for one minute that she thought that it would actually become his birth date.
He was born at 9:03 which is funny because 9+3=12, small things like this amuse me. My sister in law did brilliant on just gas & air, I however was in the bad books as her midwife (as she called me) I failed to answer my phone as previously agreed. My phone had been place on silence during the day whilst we were watching our children's Christmas concerts & I forgot to take it off silent so unfortunately I missed the important phone calls. I was that surprised when she called to say she had, had him I kind of said "shut up, no you haven't" I then heard my gorgeous nephew crying in the background which then left me shocked.
I had to wait a whole five days before I got to give him a huge cuddle & when we arrived after a 70 mile journey I managed to wait a whole 30 minutes before scooping him up because he was peacefully snoozing in his crib. You forget how tiny newborns are, my 18 month old daughter suddenly seemed like a giant compared to him & considering he is the 1st baby she has come across since she started toddling about she was brilliant & wanted to cuddle him, she sat with him on her lap with her left hand softly patting his shoulder whilst her right hand gently stroked his tiny hands.
To make up for not answering my phone I made my sister in law a special cake, one of her favourites. She did share with some of her guest I am told but the rest she ate herself & has already asked when I shall be making another!. I will make as many cakes as she likes so long as I get to cuddle my little man. 
Our next visit will be soon, we need to take lots of pictures whilst he is still tiny, so I shall set up my mini studio & turn click happy one again & get the occasional cuddle in-between.
God I love newborn babies & Callum is one of 15 of my nieces & nephews so I have had plenty of practice at perfecting the Auntie role. 





Sunday 16 December 2012

Rug Doctor

I have been sent a 
wonderful Rug Doctor to use to spruce up the carpets & sofa in my home. I have seen them before in many stores ready for hire but have never hired one. It came at a brilliant time as everyone has family visiting over the festive period & you will want your home looking it's best. Many go out & buy new carpets at Christmas time but there is no need as the Rug Doctor brings up your carpets looking great & it also takes out any lingering smells that your carpet is holding.
Having recently moved house & had fresh new carpets down I decided to give my mother in laws carpet a good clean, after all they have been down for around 2 decades. Following the instructions is straight forward & very easy to do. The solution I received was enough to do 1 large hall, stairs & landing, one large dining room, 1 large bathroom & 3 rugs with some solution left over. The tool that comes with it to do the stairs & around the edge of the room is a great tool & easy to attach and use.
I took the opportunity to clean my cream sofa & it brought it up a right treat, for this I bought my own Rug Doctor upholstery cleaning solution. I thought it would have left the sofa much wetter that what it did but the Rug Doctor sucked up most of the water.
Rental prices start from around £22.99 for a 24 hour hire & the solution is around £10 for a 1 litre bottle, this price I have to say is really cheap considering how much you can get done in one day.
I would recommend hiring a Rug Doctor to family & friends & will also hire in the future when needed it left the carpets smelling fresh & also brought up any dirt to make them looking fresh again.




Tuesday 11 December 2012

A night in with Ladbrokes

A while back Ladbrokes sent me a party box as a treat on them to have a good night in with friends or family.
The timing was perfect as it was coming up for my birthday so as I had family coming down from Manchester & local family coming to help me celebrate my birthday I thought it would be great to crack open the party box. I the box was a poker set, a dvd, twister, cocktail making items(minus any alcohol) party plates & cups, an itunes voucher & a pizza hut gift voucher. So entertainment, food & music was sorted all I had to do it get some ingredients in for the cocktails & my birthday celebrations were set to go.


Having a night in with family is a treat for us because we don't see each other as often as we like & going out for a night is a very rare occasion, so rare that the last time we went out was 2011 & I am not kidding either.

We decided the cocktail of the night was going to be mai tai because it is the quickest to make, I got the recipe out of my new cocktail recipe book & I must say they were rather tasty & went down a treat. We had a friendly game of poker, well I say friendly but the rest didn't look to happy when I took all of their chips off them.
As the night was coming to a close we opened up twister & even got my mother in law playing, maybe that was a bit mean because we had a slight advantage on her but my pregnant sister in law was nominated to be the spinner so it was just luck of the draw(well we  can't expect a pregnant lady to contortionist could we!). Thankfully I was flexible & the old bones have not seized up yet, so yeas once again I was crowned the winner & rightly so, I was the birthday girl after all.

It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday & catch up with family members.






Monday 10 December 2012

Furby

Furby craze has hit us once again & in my last toyologist box we were very pleased to welcome this fella into our lives, meet Furby he is the all new cheeky interactive Furby made by Hasbro. I remember when Furby's first came out & they were a big hit then, technology has since moved on & now they have released a brand new interactive Furby.
I opened the box & inserted 4 AA batteries to power him up & off he went straight chatting furbish & throwing me some cute eye glances......I was hooked. I spent the best part of an afternoon chatting to Furby, thankfully I had a sheet with lots of Furbish translation on & I also found a huge list of what our Furby says online so I was able to have some sort or Furbish conversation with him.  
Over time he has learn't much more English words he will tell me when he is hungry to which being a doting Furby mummy I feed him & he thanks me with a belch! My Furby yet is to learn manners it seems. He does not come with an off button either & will automatically shut down after some time, when he is shutting down he will tell you he is sleepy, close his eyes & start to make sleeping noises. He will become active again once you touch him. 
The more you talk, play & interact with your Fury the more they will learn. They love music, being tickled & generally just being talked to. As I said earlier our Furby is yet to learn any manners & sometimes greets me with "blah, blah, blah" he is just like a teenager. He also finds his own burps funny & laughs quite a lot of the time.  
If you have an iphone or ipad you can get a lot more out of your Furby by downloading the app, on the app you can directly feed your Furby his favourite foods & automatically translate what he is saying which makes interacting with him much easier.

Furby is £57.99 in Toys R Us which some will think is quite expensive for one toy but when I compare it to toys in a similar price range I would say it is worth it. Furby has made is laugh quite a lot since he has come to live with us & so far none of us have made him turn evil. One thing that has not welcomed Furby is our cat he walked in & sniffed him just as he sprung to life, the cat gave him a quick swipe with his paw & walked away whilst giving him the death stare & has not gone near him since. 
We all love the Furby so I would recommend him to family & friends. 

Ben 10 Omnitrix Touch

 In our last box my boys were delighted to discover the Ben 10 Omnitrix Touch. Both the boys enjoy watching Ben 10 especially big T who would watch it and pretend he had special watch with special powers just like Ben 10. The Omnitrix is the device that Ben 10 uses to transform himself into different aliens. Attaching the Omnitrix Touch to your childs arm is easy, put the 3 prongs into the 3 holes, the lip on the 3 prongs hold it into place & my boys can both take it off easily but need help to put it on. It comes with an on/off switch so you don't have to wait for it to shut down & it is suitable for children ages 4 & over, it fits both of my boys ages 4 & 11 perfectly.


The Omnitrix Touch has 3 different modes, mode 1 is alien voices, pressing around the edges of the circle in various places & then touching the centre activates different alien voices. Mode 2 is random sound effects, pressing on the circle if different areas makes a different sound & mode 3 is to unlock secret messages, you look out for the codes on some specially marked Ben 10 products.

Both of my boys have loved playing with the Omnitrix touch, it can be bought from Toy R Us for £23.99 which is what I would pay for this toy & I would recommend it to family & friends.



Thursday 6 December 2012

Operation Christmas Child

 A while back I approached a few wonderful brands that I had previously reviewed for & asked if they would like to donate some small items to help me fill shoe boxes for operation Christmas Child. The response I had was fantastic, two companies came forward with donations, bags of cute animal themed pencils arrived from John Crane Toys & a box full of Santa & Rudolf figures from WOW toys, I then had to find a hiding place because I knew that if my children saw them they would chew my ear off for them. John Crane toys put a shout out for me, trying to drum up more companies to get involved. It worked because Meadow Kids came into my life with the offer of some toys to help me fill the shoe boxes so imagine my surprise when 2 huge boxes landed at my door(There was no way I could hide those), I had more than what I needed as family had bought toys & my sister in law who blogs at Life with Liv had also contributed with items to fill the boxes along with my trips to Poundland. 

I manage to get my mother in law to help me wrap the boxes up & then fill them, my dining table looked like a shoe box production line. We managed a total of 18 boxes, 2 off my goal of 20 & that was only because I had ran out of shoe boxes. I knew my son's school takes part every year in filling boxes so I decided to donate the rest of the wonderful items that I had to the school to help them to fill their boxes. I took the rest of the toys along with our 18 boxes to his school & was overwhelmed with the response we received. The school was very grateful & asked us if we would appear in the paper with them & of course we agreed.



Along with our 18 boxes the school managed to send 123 filled boxes to Operation Christmas Child, I think that is fantastic because 123 children will receive a gift because of them & I am proud to be a part of it. When I arrived to have our picture taken & to be interviewed I was handed thank you cards from the children in my sons class, reading them made me me realise what a wonderful school my son attends & it is because of them he is doing as well as he is academically.

The Thank you cards that are for everyone who helped 

My turn now to say thank you, firstly thank you to John Crane Toys, WOW Toys & Meadow Kids I could not have filled as many boxes without your very kind donations. Thank you to my family members who have bought items & for helping me to wrap the boxes too. Thank you to my sons school for all being wonderful & having the most pleasant, welcoming staff & pupils & a special thanks for the lovely thank you letters.

If you would be interested in following what happens once your boxes have been sent follow Mummy from the heart's Blog & read about her trip to Belarus with Operation Christmas Child.  

Mummy2five x


Wednesday 5 December 2012

Melissa & Doug Paint with Water

Painting is not one of little T's favourite activities so when I received the Melissa & Doug Paint with Water set from Toys R Us for review I was surprised when he was eager to get started. I set up the table ready for our painting activity whilst he browsed through the 20 pages that you get with this set. 
On each page you get a paint palette which consist of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and brown paints. Little T decided he would like to pain the fire engine so I tore that page out of the book & gave him a pot of water & his paint brush, the paint brush is provided in the set so all you need is the water.
I shown him how to wet the brush and apply the water to his paint palette, just like magic(his words) the coloured squares turned into a spreadable paint. I then left him to it to finish his painting half expecting to return to a mess but I was wrong, when I returned there was no mess not even his hands were covered like they usually would be with any painting activity.



The Melissa & Doug Paint with Water set can be bought for £3.99 from Toys R Us which I think is excellent value. The set can be bought in blue for a boy or pink for a girl & they will have different images to paint according to gender. 

Transformers Ultimate Bot Shots Battle Set


Transformers Ultimate Bot Shots Battle Set found their way into our last toyologist box for review, the boys are both big fans of Transformers & have a few of the robots already so I thought this one would be just as great as the others.
In the set you get 4 vehicles & 2 launchers. The vehicles are; Optimus Prime, Bumblebee & Megatron & Deception brawl enemies. Bumblebee & Optimus Prime's vehicle trailers convert into the vehicle launchers. The battle set game is easy to grasp because it is the 1st Transformer that converts to the robot from vehicle mode on impact that wins, if both convert at the same time then the strongest one will win, blaster beats fist, fist beats sword & sword beats blaster. 
Little T & big T both enjoyed going into battle with their Transformers, competing against each other to be the winner. The transformers & vehicle launchers I thought were quite sensitive & would open up quite easily so I think this would be better if they were not so sensitive. I found it difficult to keep them in vehicle mode but both the boys never seems to be bothered by this.
The Transformers Ultimate Bot Shots Battle Set can be bought from Toys R Us for £24.99




Poundland Christmas

Being a Poundland ambassador means we are set challenges & this challenge is all about Christmas. With my vouchers I set about finding Christmas items from the wide range that they have in the Poundland stores.

First up I bought Christmas wrapping paper & gift tags, the wrapping paper are both £1 each & are Disney themed, each roll is 3 meters long. In our store they had a wide variety of wrapping paper, gift bags & tags. The tag I chose are glittered tags in the shapes of a star, bauble, tree & snowflake. You get 30 tags & 30 silver tag string.

Next I found items to place around my home, I found a light up usb Christmas tree that can also be hung, as you can see from the picture it changes colour. I also bought a Snowman snow globe, I loved snow globes as a child & would shake them up & watch them over & over. Inside the globe sits a reindeer, be careful where you place this item because it is pot so out of the reach of small children would be advised.

I found some lovely plastic plates & cups, they have gingerbread men, candy canes & holly decorated around them. For £1 you get 3 plastic plates or 3 plastic cups, they will come in very handy this Christmas especially when eating a mince pie with a cup of milk. I also bought 2 lots of tinsel at £1 each, my store had a good range of tinsel in different colours & designs.

In the sweet isle I was spoilt for choice with chocolates coins, candy canes & marshmallows just to name a few so I chose some Merry Mallows, they are snowman shaped marshmallows & are a firm favourite in our house. I also chose chocolate baubles to hang on the tree but I doubt they will still be there by the end of the week, they are chocolate balls wrapped in red & blue foil.


If you are looking for gifts or little stocking fillers they too have a good choice, I chose a tin of biscuits for an elderly aunt, retro robot reusable hand warmers to keep those hands toasty. I also bought a Looney Tunes box of mini books & a handbag notepad with a lipstick pen. Each item was just £1 & are perfect for little stocking fillers. 
From the beauty section I bought a nail buffer set & a hairbrush, I bough a brush because every time I go away I tend to forget to pack a brush because it is one of the last things you pack so now I have one I can pre pack away. I bought the nail buffer set because in the festive season you will no doubt want lovely nails so you can keep them looking nice with this set. Both can be bought £1 each whilst your there you could stock up on a wide range of beauty products.

Whilst browsing I came across this reindeer Merry xmas wreath, it so cute & can also be bought with a Santa instead of a reindeer, it looks lovely hanging indoors or outdoors. I found a box of 4 3d stars in white & blue, they are glittery & will look lovely hanging on a tree.






Tuesday 4 December 2012

Monster High Ghouls Rule

Tots 100 have sent me Monster High Ghouls Rule to review for the Tots100 film club. Both my girls are Monster High mad, they have asked over & over for Monster High products so I knew they would both enjoy this film. It is suitable for all ages & the film lasts 1 hour 8 minutes approximately. 
It is the first dvd to be brought out on Monster High & the story unearths an old conflict between "normies" & monsters. It is all about Halloween, all at Monster High know scary things happen on Halloween so it is best to stay inside & avoid conflict at all cost!.
Frankie makes a discovery that normies & monsters once enjoyed spending Halloween together so they set about turning back time & celebrate being unique, yourself & a monster.

My girls have watched this film quite a few times now & both have thoroughly enjoyed it, it has made M more determined to make sure Monster High are on her Christmas list & I am sure they will watch the film many more times.

This film is a must have for Monster high fans.

I received this dvd so I could review it as part of the Tots100 Film Club

My boys is growing up

Please tell me I am not the only parent that struggles when their child gets older each year! My eldest son big T turned 11....yes 11 last week & for some reason I really struggled with him leaving age 10 behind. I am not sure if it is because he doesn't look like a 11 year old or the fact that they are no longer babies that I find so hard but this year really hit me hard. I called up my mother in law to have a chat & I was moaning  telling her how sad it was to believe he was going to be 11 when we woke up which then turned into how old all the children will be next year & then I began talking about when little R will begin nursery when she stopped me, expecting to hear some words of wisdom I listened then she said "thanks are you trying to depress me" haha I am obviously not the only person who struggles with the little people getting older.

The morning of his birthday he was very giddy & kept repeating that he was 11, at least he was happy & I think the big pile of toys & the lovely Ben10 cake made his day. He came in from school with gifts & cards & happily told us all about his day. We then all enjoyed a little tea party & ate cake....the Ben10 cake...that I made all by myself(I will tell you all how I did it soon).

So another year has gone & another lot of birthday memories made, lets hope we make many more memories from now till his 12th(gulp) birthday




In the world of horses

 Growing up I was a typical child that dreamt of owning a horse one day, that dream has never left me & I honestly don't think it ever will. My girls also have the same dream, they often yell as they are rushing out of the door "mum just going to the horses field" just as I did as a child. When I was a teenager my best friend purchased her first horse, as soon as I saw her I fell totally in love, her name is April. 

Now April was a bit flighty to begin with but after a bit of schooling she soon settled down into the perfect horse & I loved pulling on my jodhpurs & boot & heading off to the farm after school each day. I didn't even mind mucking out in the freezing weather it was all worth it to get to ride her.

I know owning a horse doesn't come cheaply not only do you have to feed & stable the horse there is tack & your own must have clothing that needs to be bought. The Equestrian Clearance has a huge range of riding boots & so much more that I would quite happily spend some money on but I don't own a horse(yet), I am guilty of owning a pair of Jodhpurs that have never been worn that I refuse to get rid of because I know one day I will get my very own horse & get to use them. That day might be when the children have all grown up but I am patient and can wait till the time is right. For now I will have to make do with walking down the isles of tack & feed & taking in the gorgeous smell that I love.

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Glam Maternity wear

Being pregnant & finding nice clothes that look great can sometimes be rather difficult for some expectant mums. 

I never grew a large bump so for me finding clothes came fairly easy but I know for some mums they really struggled to find that perfect dress for a wedding or the office Christmas party, Tiffany Rose has the answer. 
They stock a wide range of beautiful gowns that will have you looking elegant, they truly are stunning gowns. It is also the season that the traditional little black dress comes out & they too have that one covered. So if you are an expectant bride, guest or just looking for that special dress take a look at their website.

I have know a few people who have decided to marry whilst pregnant & they too have struggled to find a gown that they like or have paid over the odds to have a gown adjusted to make room for the beautiful baby bump. Tiffany Rose have some rather stunning wedding dresses which are affordable. On your wedding day you want to look your absolute best & being an expectant bride is no different. 


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Monday 3 December 2012

Tis the season of good flu

With winter comes snow filled clouds & frost covered fields all glistening in the mornings sun but that is not all winter brings, winter brings in the flu season. The one downside to having a large family is that once one has had it guaranteed another will catch it in our house, it will then get us one by one & sometimes return to its 1st victim(usually one of the kids) & the cycle begins again.

Little R is calling up for a chat to her Nanna, I think she is secretly asking to escape from the flu zone

Breaking that cycle in winter seems near impossible, so today we had a trip to the Dr's with little R, her symptoms have gone from a raging temperature to a hoarse voice to a streaming nose & now a cough that seems to rattle her whole body....the diagnosis a viral infection! I may have got her seen a bit quicker than some but with whooping cough on the rise again it is better to be safe than sorry & after having one child in hospital with pneumonia as a baby I tend to be a little more paranoid about coughs. 
Like I mentioned earlier others in our home will catch it, I have got off lightly with a sore throat but daddy2five sounds like he is about to come down with a major case of man flu so he now has myself & my mother in law on his back making sure he is keeping up on the man flu tablets aka beechams.
I will place a bet now though that C & big T will hardly come down with a cold, I don't know what it is with them two but they are hardly sick & when they do catch something it is gone within a day or two.

How do you cope with the seasonal flu? 

Pregnant? you need Bounty

So all the months of waiting & testing have come to an end with those 2 little lines on a pregnancy test, you may have dreamt about this moment, played it over & over in your mind. You will be grinning like a cat that got the cream in one breath then worrying the next. So your pregnant, your body will be in overdrive working really hard to get those precious cells into a fully formed beautiful baby, through your pregnancy week by week you can check on the progress of your baby from the size of an apple pip all the way up to the end, each week it will tell you about babies at that weeks gestation & says how you may be feeling. Each week it will give advice on what to be doing to be prepared, so if you are expecting I recommend you save the the pregnancy site Bounty in your favourites because it will become your favourite read.

Throughout all of my pregnancies I used Bounty to read up on all the latest checks that I should be having, I loved seeing how big my precious cargo would be each week, I know what you are all thinking! a mother of 5 doesn't need Bounty but you do!. I was surprised at how much things change over the years like how to put a baby down to sleep or even weaning. On every child I have happily collected my Bounty pack just before leaving the hospital, it is filled with leaflets of advice & great samples to try.
So if you are expecting or already have your baby bring Bounty into your life.


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Memory Monday - Feeding the Chickens


Little T was desperately trying to get our chickens to eat a carrot from him but they were having none of it, I think the huge tub of meal worms next to him didn't help.

I love that he takes an interest in the animals we have & will be the 1st to offer to help feed or clean them out.



Sunday 2 December 2012

Twister Dance

Hasbro have brought out a whole new twist to Twister with Twister Dance, what I like about the Twister Dance is you don't need more that one player to get yourself in a twist. We as a family love Twister so we set up the Twister Dance to have a play as a family. In the box you get 1 dance console that also can be used as a speaker & 8 coloured spots(2 of each colour). The dance console will need 4xAA batteries in order to work, you do get some in but they are demo batteries so will run out quickly.

You can play alone or along side another player, position the coloured spots on the floor as shown in the instructions according to what song you have chosen. You get 5 songs which once they are repeated over & over can get a little bit annoying but fear not you can connect your MP3 player to the dance console & play your own music, the dance console comes with clever beat detection technology so it will produce a dance routine to your own tracks too. The speaker also comes with volume control which is great for when you have heard the same track coming from behind the bedroom door for the 5th time in a short space of time.

The speaker will flash a colour to the left & to the right of the speaker & your feet then need to go onto that spot thus teaching you the dance moves well the leg dance moves anyway. There are 3 levels beginner, intermediate & advance. I am okay on beginner but as soon as I go up a level I look like bambi on ice to flashes of colour & so to my girls so I think you should start off on beginner & then move up a level once you have mastered that level. I would recommend playing with socks only because if you have bare feet or shoes on the spots will stick to you feet or move. It is suitable for ages 8+ & can be bought from Toys R Us for £19.49, I think this is excellent value especially as you are able to connect it to your MP3 player so you have a wider range of music.



Avengers Quinjet vehicle Playset



In our final Toys R Us toyologist
 box we had the Avengers Quinjet vehicle playset, my eldest is a big fan of Ironman so this I know he would love this & my youngest son who is 4 has also started to show an interest in the Avengers. In the box you get the vehicle which they say is the most powerful transport & assault vehicle ever built, a tail wing, 2 side wings, 2 missiles, a label sheet & Iron man.

Setting it up was nice & easy all you have to do is attach the tail & side wings then attach the labels/stickers and you are good to go. Iron Mad can be the pilot in the cockpit or fly at the side using the flight clip. The wing tips are movable & the cargo bay at the rear of the plane opens. Have fun when you fire the 2  missiles at the enemy which turns out is me apparently. 

The only problem we found was when we pressed on the missile holder to lift up the launcher it would come off so each time we had to put it back in which wasn't a problem it would just be better if it didn't come off each time. Little T loved to pretend he was flying around attacking the enemy with his Quinjet & Ironman. The Avengers Quinjet vehicle playset is suitable for children ages 4 years & over & can be bought from Toys R Us for £32.99 at the minute which I would say it about right for this Avengers toy.